Latest Thoughts

So, following a very useful critique by another professor last week, I stepped back to the drawing board. Rather than complete one finished drawing a week--going from research to concept sketch to pencil drawing to inking to watercolor in 7 days-- I'm going to work through the exhibition in stages, ie do all the pencil drawings first and then move on to inking. This is a little intimidating because I no longer feel like I have any completed illustrations for the final exhibition. In the end though, I think this will to create a cohesive body of work.

Here are the fruits of my labor this past weekend. I logged in 11 hrs of studio time on Saturday, bringing the week's total to 39 hrs. This is almost like a full time job! I just hope it'll bring in some income or a job at some point in the future.

Just sketching: Deep-sea Anglerfish

Formosan Squirrels

September 14, Kamakura City, Japan

These Formosan squirrels are sneaky, lying little bastards. At first, they appear to be quite the altruistic species, working in mob-like teams to fend off any intruding snakes. If a snake, like Elaphe climacophora, is caught crossing into their territory of branches, an alarm is sounded that resembles a human scream that can be heard from 200 meters away. Every squirrel in the area gathers around the snake to harass it until it finally retreats down the tree.

Aerial predators, Spilornis cheela or Butastur indicus for example, are also cause for a warning call. This vocalization is different and instead of assembling together, the squirrels go into hiding and remain silent until the threat has passed overhead.

Male squirrels use this cause-and-effect behavior to their advantage during mating season. During and after copulation, an act lasting an average of 17 minutes, the males emit a call that is indistinguishable from the aerial predator warning. Thus, any competing males are forced into hiding and leave the couple to finish their act uninterrupted. Since the females mate with 7-11 other males, this “alone time” can give the sperm a head start in fertilizing her eggs.

It’s a smart and delightfully deceptive trick.

Bowerbirds

November 21

I stumbled across a bower today. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a small clearing that looked like someone had diligently removed all the litter from the forest floor. It just seemed too clean, too organized for nature. Small mounds peppered the clearing: little piles of feathers, nuts, flowers, beetle shells, and bits of blue plastic from who-knows-where. In the middle of this clearing was the most surprising and intricate structure made of sticks and twigs. It was a bower, though this particular one was a bit different from what I would expect from the Satin Bowerbird, Ptilonorhynchus violaceus. Theirs are usually around 30 cm high and 50 cm long, with two walls that push up like waves to create a middle alley (think Charlton Heston parting the Red Sea). The ingenuity of these birds continues to amaze me, and this bower was no exception. Had I not known better, I would have thought that the artist, Andy Goldsworthy, had turned into a fairy and moved into the forests of eastern Australia.

Bowerbirds can be found throughout New Guinea and Australia in forests that are so abundant in natural resources that the birds can focus their energies in projects other than food gathering. Like growing brains large enough to become architects.

The males may be the builders but the females are the ultimate critics. With an analytical eye, the females inspect the quality of the bowers; is it symmetrical? Are there enough blue objects? Does the light hit the structure just right? Because a well-constructed bower means a male with strong genes, the female will mate only if every detail is perfect. However, if the bower and its builder do not meet her standards, the female will simply move on to the next bower that catches her eye.